KILLED BY STEAM ROLLER

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 933, 28 March 1930, Page 11

KILLED BY STEAM ROLLER

SUICIDE THEORY NOT PROVED COMPENSATION FOR WIDOW Special to TIIE SUN NEW PLYMOUTH, Thursday. As an allegation of suicide had not . proved to the degree of certainty, judgment was given for the full amount, with costs at £ls 15s. in an action heard in the Arbitration Court today between Dorothy May Morris, of ■Normanby (Mr. L. A. Taylor) and the Hawera County Council (Mr. A. A. Bennett). Plaintiff claimed £741 as compensation for the death of her husband as the result of an accident while ho was in the employ of the county council. Morris met his death on October 22. on the Normanby-Okaiawa Road, when he was run over by a steam-roller. The issue turned on whether Morris met his death accidentally, or committed suicide. After hearing evidence, Mr. Justice Frazer gave judgment for tho full amount claimed. Evidence for the claimant was given by Lawrence Bell, foreman for the council, who was in charge of Morris’s gang. The deceased had been in the employ of the council for some years, and for four or five years before his death had very apparently suffered illhealth. Morris was worried over his condition, as he was unable to do his work satisfactorily always, and it caused depression. The accident occurred on a straight, flat stretch near an S-shaped Pend. During the time witness had known him, Morris had never shown anv suicidal tendencies. Hugh Young, county employee, said he had known Morris for 10 years before his death, and for the last four years of his life he was not in a fit state to work as he did. About two years before the fatality he became ill one day on the road. He had an atSlT* OAT29J O} puq put? ‘SSOUIZZJP JO qOU} work. Then he fell off his bicycle, and it took him 3£ hours *,o go 4i miles. William Frank Gulliver, driver of the steam-roller, said that prior to the fatality he noticed Morris looking round at something, apparently at the side of tho engine, but he could not see what it was that had attracted deceased’s attention. Morris appeared to throw himself or dive under the wheel, and the action impressed witness as being deliberate. There was nothing on the road to cause him to stumble. Mr. Justice Frazer, in giving judgment. said it had been stated in the medical evidence that mental symptoms would be evident if the act were suicide. However, deceased’s actions were normal on the day of the fatality. If deceased had dived, his arms would have been extended, and not, as they were, one at his side. This pointed to a stumble.